Our Tractor Story

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April, 1999

4-2-99:  I had a new exhaust pipe made at Tuffy's exhaust shop. I made it a couple of inches longer than the old one, which had a splice with a clamp in it and was too short to seal in the muffler.  With the old pipe, there was no seal with the base of the muffler, as the pipe did not go above the mounting bracket, leaving about 1/2 inch air gap, which blew exhaust and oil all over the place. The new pipe goes into the muffler about an inch and a half, and should seal as well as it should.  I painted the new pipe hi-heat black, like the muffler.

Click here to see the new exhaust pipe

4-3-99:  Started working on the right and left front hood grill pieces.  I wire wheeled all the paint and rust from both pieces, then coated them with rust converter.  After they dried, I bolted the front end on, and took a close look at the fit of the parts.  The left piece has been damaged, and has about 1/2 inch of body filler, and is not aligned at the bottom.  I used my belt sander to remove the filler, and brazed the cracks that I found.  I beat the bottom almost flat with the side as it was about one inch above the frame at the bottom and needed to be reshaped.  I reformed it to the correct shape, using a 5 pound anvil as a dolly and a one pound ball peen hammer.

4-4-99:  Finished the left front piece with a thin coat of body filler, sanded it with the belt sander, then refilled the scratches with spot putty.  Sanded again with a sanding block, then primed with red-oxide primer.  More sanding with finer paper and another coat of priming after it dries.  Started on the right piece, which is not in such bad shape.  I sanded with the belt sander, put on a thin coat of filler, and belt sanded again when it dried.  I picked up more primer and paint, and two tubes of spot putty, sandpaper and more cotton rags.

4-10-99:  Started on the nose piece, removing the old paint and rust, priming and filling the scratches, and painted it green.  I started on the crankcase top cover and the breather, cleaning, priming and painting.  Cleaned the top of the crankcase, and the clutch and gearshift levers.  This area was rusty, so I hit it with rust converter, then red oxide primer after wire brushing and scraping with the putty knife.

4-11-99:  The paint job on the nose piece does not look too good, as I can see that some scratches in the metal are showing through the green paint, even with two coats of primer and two coats of green.  I will strip it and re-do it.  I also found a few scratches and paint drops on the upper water pipe, as well as the valve tappet cover.  I sanded, primed and repainted these areas.  I painted the pedestal green.  it looks like I am on the home stretch with the body work, and will be able to paint it with the final coats in two weeks.  (Too busy next weekend with our nephew's 4th birthday party.)

4-18-99:  Found cases of plain 30 weight oil on sale at the Meijer store in Louisville, Ky (our 4 year old nephew's home town) for $4.44 each, so I bought two.  That's 24 quarts of oil for $9.42 including tax.  ($.39 a quart!!!)

4-24-99:  Spray painted the grills and hood green, using two light coats.  Let it set a couple of hours, then painted it with a third coat.

4-25-99:  Dan and I put the hood on tonight.  I brush painted the front support assembly green, then went over all the little spots that I can find with the spray can of green.

Click here to see the finished hood.

4-26-99:  Carolyn and I installed the steering shaft and then, with Carolyn turning the steering wheel, I adjusted the shaft seal nut and the gear back lash by turning the top bushing to get the least free movement without binding the shaft worm gear.  I filled the gear area of the pedestal with 90 weight gear oil, and put on the top with the original four phillips head bolts.  I installed the grill pieces, using the Correct Connection hardware.  The hood looks real nice.

4-28-99:  I put water in the radiator and gasoline in the fuel tank.  Looked it over for leaks, and gave it a spin.  After a few minutes, I got the engine started, then adjusted the idle mixture on the carb.  I let it run for a half an hour to get it warmed up, then I checked it all over for leaks.  All is well.  I shut it down, and called it a day.  It really feels good to hear than old beast running again.  YEA!!!

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